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Comment This isn't a victory for Behring-Breivik. (Score 3, Insightful) 491

Someone once pointed out that hoping a rapist gets raped in prison isn't a victory for his victim(s), because it somehow gives him what he had coming to him, but it's actually a victory for rape and violence. I wish I could remember who said that, because they are right. The score doesn't go Rapist: 1 World: 1. It goes Rape: 2.

What this man did is unspeakable, and he absolutely deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. If he needs to be kept away from other prisoners as a safety issue, there are ways to do that without keeping him in solitary confinement, which has been shown conclusively to be profoundly cruel and harmful.

Putting him in solitary confinement, as a punitive measure, is not a victory for the good people in the world. It's a victory for inhumane treatment of human beings. This ruling is, in my opinion, very good and very strong for human rights, *precisely* because it was brought by such a despicable and horrible person. It affirms that all of us have basic human rights, even the absolute worst of us on this planet.

User Journal

Journal Journal: in which i am a noob all over again 17

I haven't posted a journal here in almost three years, because I couldn't find the button to start a new entry. ...yeah, it turns out that it's at the bottom of the page.

So... hi, Slashdot. I used to be really active here, but now I mostly lurk and read. I've missed you.

Comment Re:Too bad (Score 1) 443

The closest one to me (which was closed down in the last round) was also a high-profile, high-traffic location and had a HUGE sci-fi section. Most of the employees knew their stuff. The one I've been going to since then always seemed too big and not enough stock bookwise (although a huge computer section with the emphasis on security books, at least it was that way before they started moving stuff around).

I thought there was something odd about the almost-constant coupons and sales they seemed to run as of late...now I know why.

Comment Re:Forced (Score 1) 542

At one point, I had a psychiatrist who wanted to commit me and put me on Lithium...no explanation past "your daughter is antisocial and needs this" (okay, you refuse to explain, we refuse to consent). All because I had something called an imagination which apparently you weren't allowed to have past the age of 10. I also had a therapist (nothing to do with meds, we just talked once a week) who was following this very closely and was appalled when my mom told her what was happening.

I got their blessing (and coaching so it wouldn't backfire) to mess with the psychiatrist. After a few carefully-planted seeds, it came to light that she believed all teenagers were psychotic.

Comment Re:Everyone wins (Score 1) 542

Well, you know there is a barrier between the mother's blood and the baby's, right? Some things make it through and some don't.

Just as extra nutrients ingested by the mother are good for the baby, the bad things can also pass through (crack and Thalidomide babies, FAS, any number of birth defects linked to antidepressants or other medications, etc). That's why a lot of medicines have the warning to consult a doctor if you're pregnant.

Comment Re:Forced (Score 1) 542

Sometime around the mess with the resperidone, I had a shrink who wanted to put me on lithium. My mom pressed for an explanation but she refused (okay, you refuse to explain why I need it, we refuse to agree). At the time I also had a therapist (nothing to do with meds, we just talked once a week) who was keeping a very close eye on all this, and she was appalled.

My mom and therapist gave me the go-ahead to mess with the shrink, with the goal of finding out exactly how her mind worked (interestingly, the shrink also refused to discuss her 'suspicions' with the therapist). After a few carefully-planted seeds, it came to light that she believed all teenagers were psycho.

Comment Re:Or Mass Over-Prescription... (Score 2) 542

I can believe that. When I was very young, I was put on a tricyclic that I recently learned should never be given to children (I don't believe that whoever prescribed it didn't know this). I never was able to find out what the reasoning was for putting me on that stuff, only that it was causing mild depression as well as a host of other odd side effects.

In my teens, I was put on Resperidone which didn't do shit. That reasoning was schizophrenia...all because I was an avid gamer and fanfic writer. The only thing that happened is my grades sank like a stone because I couldn't concentrate (also a messy almost-accident involving a table saw). My mother took me off of it after I passed out in the car and apparently stopped breathing for a short time. A month later, we see the doc..."She seems to be doing really well! How are the meds going?" "She's been off them for a month." It was quite telling that he couldn't tell I wasn't taking the pills...further proof that I didn't have what I was being "treated" for.

What did I actually have? Brain trauma in infancy that eventually sorted itself out naturally. I can't help but wonder if had I not been put on all that shit things would have been different.

Comment Re:Appstore replies ? (Score 1) 241

I'm going with the "customer is an idiot" theory (isn't that always the case?). I've seen some good products get cumulative 1- and 2-star reviews because someone had a problem with the Marketplace seller they bought it from. Rather than use the handy dispute service that Amazon provides they slammed the seller in the product reviews and made it sound like the item was at fault.
Music

Submission + - MuseScore makes Open Goldberg Variations available (musescore.com)

rDouglass writes: "MuseScore, the open source music notation project, has created a new edition of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and a set of online tools that facilitates the public scholarly review of the work. The review period is intended to help the MuseScore team identify any problems with the score. The score can be viewed and played in the browser. Annotations and discussions for each part of the score enable review and corrections. Downloadable versions include MuseScore, MusicXML, MIDI, mp3, or PDF. Video scores (YouTube videos that are synchronized to play with the score) let the score be viewed in the context of individual performances. MuseScore is a partner in the Open Goldberg Variations Project, a crowd-funded effort to place a definitive score and recording of the work into the public domain in such a way as to make them widely and freely available, without usage restrictions (Creative Commons Zero). German pianist Kimiko Ishizka will produce the studio recording of the work later this year. Funding continues on Kickstarter until June 3, 2011."
Education

Quantum Physics For Everybody 145

fiziko writes in with a self-described "blatant self-promotion" of a worthwhile service for those wishing to go beyond Khan Academy physics: namely Bureau 42's Summer School. "As those who subscribe to the 'Sci-Fi News' slashbox may know, Bureau 42 has launched its first Summer School. This year we're doing a nine-part series (every Monday in July and August) taking readers from high school physics to graduate level physics, with no particular mathematical background required. Follow the link for part 1."
PHP

Eight PHP IDEs Compared 206

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Rick Grehen provides an in-depth comparative review of eight PHP IDEs: ActiveState's Komodo IDE, CodeLobster PHP Edition, Eclipse PHP Development Tools (PDT), MPSoftware's phpDesigner, NetBeans IDE for PHP, NuSphere's PhpED, WaterProof's PHPEdit, and Zend Studio. 'All of these PHP toolkits offer strong support for the other languages and environments (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL database) that a PHP developer encounters. The key differences we discovered were in the tools they provide (HTML inspector, SQL management system) for various tasks, the quality of their documentation, and general ease-of-use,' Grehen writes.'"

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